Beaton. John was connected by marriage with James Learmont of Balcomie, the cardinal's avowed enemy, and it is surmised that while at Edinburgh he became acquainted with Alexander Crichton of Brunston, Norman Leslie [q. v.], and others who were engaged in the plot. The whole question of the identity of the envoy, however, is involved in doubt [see Wishart, George, 1513?–1547]. After succeeding to his paternal estates in 1545 he took no great share in public affairs for the next twelve years. On 14 March 1556–7 he joined Archibald Campbell, fourth earl of Argyll [q. v.], Alexander Cunningham, fifth earl of Glencairn [q. v.], Lord James Stewart (afterwards Earl of Mar and Earl of Moray) [q. v.], and John Erskine of Dun (1509–1591) [q. v.], in signing a letter to John Knox, who was then at Geneva, inviting him to return to Scotland (Knox, History, 1846, i. 267–74). Knox accepted the invitation, but on reaching Dieppe in October he learned that the zeal of the reformers had considerably abated. He resolved to return to Geneva, but before leaving Dieppe he addressed letters of exhortation to the leading reformers and private epistles to Wishart and Erskine. On the receipt of these letters the two men called together the heads of the reforming party and urged them to immediate action. In consequence the reformers on 3 Dec. 1557 signed the ‘band,’ or first covenant, and confederated themselves under the name of the congregation for the destruction of the Roman catholic church in Scotland (cf. Harl. MS. 289, f. 7 a).
During the next few years Wishart continued one of the leading members of the congregation. When, on 24 May 1559, they met at Perth to concert resistance to the queen regent, Wishart and Erskine were deputed to assure the royal envoys that, while the members of the congregation cherished no disloyal intentions, they would firmly assert their privileges. On 4 June Wishart and Erskine had a conference at St. Andrews with Argyll and Lord James Stewart, who had been suspected of leanings towards the regent's party since the spoiling of the monasteries by the rabble in May. The result was favourable to the reformers, and Knox commenced an open onslaught on catholicism at St. Andrews, which was immediately followed by renewed iconoclastic outbreaks. Soon afterwards Wishart and William Cunningham of Cunninghamhead were appointed to negotiate with the queen regent, Mary of Guise, on the subject of liberty of worship. A second deputation, of which Wishart was one, failed to obtain more than vague promises, and they proceeded to demand the banishment of her French supporters from the kingdom. Finding it impossible to gain satisfactory assurances from her, the protestant lords met at Edinburgh in October and elected a council of authority, to which Wishart was chosen (Cal. State Papers, Scottish, 1547–63, p. 255). The members of this body drew up and subscribed a manifesto in which, in return for her duplicity, it was declared that Mary had forfeited the office of regent. In February 1559–60 he attended as commissioner the convention of Berwick, where the Duke of Norfolk, on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, agreed to support the congregation against the power of France, and terms of treaty were arranged (ib. pp. 313, 324). In April the English army reached Edinburgh, and Wishart was prominent in welcoming it and promising cordial co-operation (ib. p. 349). On 11 April he took part in a conference with the English envoys (ib. p. 357).
Wishart was named one of the commissioners of burghs in the parliament held at Edinburgh on 1 Aug. 1560 (Acts of Scottish Parl. ii. 526), and on 10 Aug. he was chosen a temporal lord of the articles (Cal. State Papers, Scottish, 1547–63, p. 458). This parliament ratified the confession of faith. The government of the state in the interval between the death of the queen regent and the arrival of Mary Stuart was entrusted to a body of fourteen chosen from twenty-four persons nominated by parliament, of whom six, including Wishart, were selected by the nobility, and eight by Mary. On 24 Jan. 1561–2 he was appointed a commissioner to value ecclesiastical property, with a view to compelling the Roman catholic clergy to surrender a third of their revenues. On 8 Feb. 1561–2 he was knighted on the occasion of the marriage of the Earl of Mar, and on 1 March he was appointed comptroller and collector-general of teinds, in which capacity he became a member of the privy council (Reg. Scott. Privy Council, ed. Burton, 1545–69, p. 21), where, however, he had sat as early as 6 Dec. 1660 (ib. Addenda, 1545–1625, p. 300). In this capacity he became paymaster of the reformed clergy, many of whom resented the scantiness of their stipends. According to Knox, the saying was current, ‘The good laird of Pittarro was ane earnest professour of Christ; but the mekle Devill receave the comptrollar’ (Knox, Hist. ii. 311).
Wishart distinguished himself at the battle of Corrichie, near Aberdeen, on 5 Nov. 1562, by his services against the followers of the Earl of Huntly [see Gordon,
